You've reached your free article limit.

Become a Soccer America Pro member today to get complete website access to all articles and all discussions and receive all of Soccer America’s newsletters for just $2.91 for three months.

This premium subscription level includes Soccer America Daily, Soccer on TV, Soccer Talk, the Game Report and Soccer America Confidential. Soccer America Pro members may read, share and comment on all articles from these paid premium newsletters.

Your email address has been verified. Enjoy your free articles.

MLS Countdown: Lodeiro, Morris can help Sounders clinch

A home win against Houston is all that is needed Wednesday for Seattle, which won just five of its first 17 games, to nail down a postseason spot.

The
Sounders (13-13-5, 44 points) have pushed into the playoff tier by winning seven of their last 10 games and are a point behind fourth-place Real Salt Lake. By finishing third or fourth Seattle can
claim a home game in the Knockout Round; by beating Houston it would close to within one point of the third-place LA Galaxy.

Both previous meetings this season ended 1-1 at BBVA Compass
Stadium and the second game, on Aug. 24, occurred after the firing of head coach Sigi Schmid and the arrival of Uruguayan attacker Nicolas Lodeiro. He scored Seattle’s goal in that
match, one of three he’s netted -- along with eight assists -- in the 10 games he has played. He’s gone the full 90 minutes in each one of them as well.

Houston has been
eliminated from playoff contention but has played teams tough down the stretch. It posted back-to-back wins against RSL on the road and Portland at home before losing its last two games to New York
City FC and Colorado. It is 4-6-7 since the club named former assistant coach Wade Barrett as interim head coach in early June.

Lodeiro returned early from international
duty with Uruguay and is available to play against Houston. A caution in the 3-0 defeat of Venezuela on Friday ruled him out of Uruguay’s match Tuesday against Colombia in Barranquilla. He also
served an MLS suspension for a Sept. 24 match against Vancouver and has been cautioned five times in his 10 appearances.

“I think he just has to get used to the referees, the
league, the way it works and everything else because some of those yellows weren’t for bad tackles,” Sounders coach Brian Schmetzertold mlssoccer.com. “Once he figures out the league, he’s a smart
kid. He’ll figure it out.”

Captain Brad Evans will miss the Houston game to serve a suspension, but Schmetzer will have his first-choice front line available.
Jordan Morris was released from U.S. duty after a 2-0 victory over Cuba. Seattle is 6-1-3 with Lodeiro in the lineup and in those 10 games Morris has scored five goals.

“When
you’re winning games and things are going your way, it’s just more fun to be in the locker room,” says Morris, who in his rookie season has ridden through a rocky first half of the
season, the firing of Schmid, and sidelining of teammate Clint Dempsey for medical concerns. “It was tough at the beginning of the year. Results weren’t going our way and when that
happens, everything is a little bit drearier. It’s been a turnaround, completely, and it’s a lot of fun right now."